Flexible inflated device



F. G. MANSON FLEXIBLE INFLATED DEVICE Filed April 29, 1932 July 7, 1936.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR FRANK G.Mnu:o/v

BVWWW ZZ-za TTORNEYS July 7, 1936. F. e. MANSON FLEXIBLE INFLATED DEVICE Filed April 29', 1932 3 She ets-Sheet2 INVENTOR FRANK 6'. Mama-01v. M 2% W 4 v A IORNETS Patented July 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oar-ice Claims.

(Granted under the act of March amended April 30, 1928; 3'70 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

5 This invention relates to flexible hollow articles, such as life preservers, boats, mattresses and the like, that are provided with cells or compartments which when pneumatically inflated constitute a supporting or buoyant medium for the user of the article and has for one of its objects to provide a new and improved article of this character in which each cell is capable of independent inflation for partly or wholly supporting the user and is'so arranged with respect to another that it will give a stable or equally balanced support irrespective of whether the other cell or cells is" or are inflated.

A further object of, my invention is to provide in a. device of this character a novel valve arrangement with respect to the cells or compartments for simultaneously inflating the same and for preventing communication between the several compartments. I

Another object of my invention is to provide in a device of this character a novel gas supply means having a casing provided with a plurality of valves corresponding to the number of compartments and a gas containing cylinder disposed within said casing and arranged with respect to said valves so that one or more of said valves may be actuated successively to progressively, first one and then another, or simultaneously deflate two or more of said compartments.

A still further object of my invention is to provide in a gas supply device of this character provided with a sealed gas cylinder or capsule,

means for puncturing said capsule, said means including a piercing plunger and yieldable means cooperating therewith for automatically withdrawing the same to permit the emission of the gas from the capsule, the piercing plunger being manually actuated for controlling the gas supply.

My invention consists in further and other fea- 45 .tures of novelty hereinafter fully described and claimed.

For purposes of illustration 1- have shown my invention as applied to a life-preserving waist.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing a life-preserver attached to the wearer and the position that both wearer and life-preserver assume when supporting the wearer in water;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the life-preserver 55 S w e leg and body attaching straps broken away and an automatic inflating device in dotted outline;

Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of the preserver;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the 5 line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the valve arrangement of the inflating device shown in F Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 10 6-6 of Fig. 5 showing the upper wall of the vertical panel extended when inflating the cells or compartments;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section taken on the line 1 1 of Fig. 5, showing the upper wall of the hor- 15 izontai channels extended when inflating the cells;

Fig. 8 is a fractional view in front elevation of .the preserver showing a variation in the valve arrangement and in the automatic inflating de- 20 vice;

Fig. 9 is a quarter sectional enlarged view of the automatic inflating device shown in Fig. 2 with operating lever being shown in operated position in dotted outline; 25

Fig. 10 is an end view looking fromleft toright of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a quarter-sectional enlarged view of the inflating device shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 12 is a fractional detail view with parts in 0 section of a further modification of the inflating device; and

Fig. 13 is a fractional sectional view of the casing in Fig. 12 and showing the three different positions of the gas container in deflating the 35 preserver.-

In constructing the life-preserver that embodies my invention and which is of apron-like construction I employ a sheet of cloth or fabric having a coating of uncured rubber on one side and cut 40 therefrom two pieces of material of the same form and size substantially as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. These two pieces are superposed with their rubber surfaces adjoining and are preferably placed in a mold for vulcanizing the adjoining rubber surfaces along corresponding areas to provide a series of spaced joints forming there between a plurality of substantially parallelly disposed compartments IO, l2 and ll of inverted U -shape, each of said compartments being symmetrically arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of the apron and non-communicative with another so that puncture or deflation of any or all but one will not disturb the stability that the apron affords when in use. An opening IS 10. oneendto aside and atthebottom edge of the.

,"apron, and detachably connected at the other end by a detachable connection It to the front bottomedgeof theapron. Thisopeningissubstan- ,5 bfinpletely surrounded by the innermost Iii 'U-sheiped compartment II and. partially so by the remaining compartments so that the portions wot the compartments above the opening will, when inflated, extend upwardly and bear against the had of the wearer. Thus the body portion of the waistwilltendtoturn theweareronhisback when in the water and the head portion 28 will atsuch timesbeinapositiontosupport thehead above the surface. The apron is provided with perforations 30 along the joints '2 for ventila- 2 tion.

In Fig. 2 I have shown by way of illustration one manner of accomplishing my novel. valve arrangement whereby the several compartments may be simultaneously inflated and whereby communication between the several compartments is prevented. In accordance with this embodiment I provide a multiway valve unit 34 that is positioned at the lower left-hand portion of the apron and cemented to the front surface 35 thereof, where it is conveniently arranged for use with an automatic inflating device 36 hereinafter described. The valve may be constructed from the same material used in the making of the apron, but preferably I employ a sheet of elastic material, such as rubber sheeting, from which two pieces 38 and 40 are cut of suitable form and .size and are secured together by superposing one above the other and either cementing or vulcanizing the contacting siu'faces at such areas as to provide three conduits or channels 42, 44 and 46, preferably arranged in the form of a 1'. These channels are normally held closed by the inherent tension of the material and furthermore by the pressure exerted thereagainst when 0 the compartments are inflated, as shown in Fig. 4. The piece 40 is provided with openings 48, and

52 at theendsofthechannelsll, andl8respectively, which openings coincide with openings 54, 56 and 50 formed in the outer wall of the corresponding compartments II, I 2 and II, whereby communication may be established between each compartment and its corresponding channel. The outer piece 38 has an opening 80 atthe point of intersection of the several channels to receive 50 a threaded nipple 82 for hereinafter described.

For automatically inflating the several compartments simultaneously, I provide the inflating device 38, heretofore referred to, such as shown in.

Fig. 9. This device comprises a readily replaceable gas supply container 84 of well-known construction disposed within a casing 00 and a manually operated plunger mechanism for breaking the seal ofthecontainer. 'I'hecasingconsistsofatubular body portion 68, that is internally threaded at Struction to that described above with the folmanually operated lever II that is formed with a cam surface 80 at its pivoted end. The 'head isalsoprovidedwithacentralborell which serves asaguideforthestem llofapiercingplunger flandacounterborellconcentrlcwithsaidcen- 6 tralboretoprovidesuflicientclearanceforaeoil spring ".thatisseatedagainstaflangell on theplungerandagainstthefaceendflofavalve seat I. for yieldinglyurgingtheplunger outwardly,thembeingi nterposedbetweentheflange l2 l0 oftheplungerandtheflangellawasherllfor eilectinganairtight jointatthatpoint. Disp sed withinaccunterboreformedintheseatltisa rubberwasherilflagainstwhichthenossleofthe containeri'sseatedunderpressureexertedby the 15 -cap'|2 sothatwhentheseal III ofthecontainer is broken by the piercing point of the plunger the intothecounterboreandisthreadedtoreceive thethreadedendofnipplefl. Theinflatingdeviceisheldinplaceonthewaistbythisthreaded connection withthenipple andby apair of straps I06 thataresuitablysecm'edtothe waist. The conflgurationofthecamflissuchthatasthe leverismoved from its normal positiontoits op' erating position, as shown mm. 9, theplunger willbeactuatedbythecamandthesealofthe gascontainerwillbepiercedtherebeingaflat H I08formedonthecanisoaunottointeriferewith. theautomaticreiurningofthephmgerintheoperatedpositionoftheleverbytheactionof spring.

Fig. 11 showsa varlationof thevalve arrangement.. This inflating device is similar in con- 4 lowing exceptions: The operating leveris attached to the cap HI instead of the head III so that in the. normal operative position thereof the lever is actuated downward for opening the container instead of upwardas is the case in the above-described device. Furthermore, the piercing member H4 is rigidly secured to the head I and is provided with a central opening ill and a side opening ill in the wall thereof so as to' establish communication with a nipple I20 without removing the piercing element from the container. In this instance a rubber sealing member I22 is formed with two concentric central, openings I24 and I" to receive in airtight en- 55 gagement the opposing ends of the piercing member and gas container respectively. The sealing member is retained within said head by a threaded ring member If! and forms with the inner gills of the head a practically airtight chamber 60 In accordance with the valve t of this embodiment I provide in place of the valve unit 34 a rubber manifold I32 having three branches or conduits I, I and 13. extending to upwardly'and-in communication with the compartments l0, l2 and I4 respectively. Each branch is provided with a tube made of hard materialandissecuredtothemarginalloweredge of the apron by interposing the same between a as shown in Fig. 13, so'as to prevent communication between the several compartments. The 15 aosasss manifold is also provided with an exterior branch I40 that extends upwardly and is attached to the nipple I20 that is threaded into the head I I2 of the casing, as shown in Fig. 11.

A further variation of my invention is shown in Figs. 12 and 13 in which the valve arrangement is similar to that shown in Fig. 11 except that the casing I42 in which the gas container is disposed constitutes a manifold from which three channels or branches in the form of tubular members I44, I48 and I48 extend laterally, then downwardly and are connected to the compartments I0, I2 and I4, respectively. Each tube has at its open end that communicates with the casing, a tire valve such as shown in Fig. 13. The outer ends of the plungers I of these valves extend slightly within the casing so that after the compartments are inflated the same may be actuated successively or two or more. simultaneously. The casing I42 consists of a body portion I02 and a head I54 secured thereto by a threaded connection. This head is provided with a central threaded bore to receive a guide I88 for seal piercing member I58. To prevent leakage from the casing, which in this instance is not provided with the longitudinal openings, I provide a packing gland of well-known construction around the plunger and within the central bore. The operating lever I80 is similar to that described in connection with Fig. 9 and is pivoted to a yoke that is made integral with a circular flange I82. This flange is received within a complementary groove I84 in the head and retained therein by crimping a flange I88 thereover. A coil spring I88 fits over the opposing ends of the container and piercing member and has one end secured within a groove I10 formed on the piercing member andthe other end in frictional engagement with the neck portion of the gas container. It willreadily be obvious from the above that the coil spring serves to remove the piercing point of the plunger from the. container after puncturing same and due to frictional engagement with the neck portion of the container it will withdraw the container from the casing when the head is detached from the body portion. There is but a slight clearance between the outer wall of the container and the inner wall of the casing so that each air valve plunger will be actuated successively as the container is being removed with a consequent deflation of the several compartments.

Having thus described my invention what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a life preserver a head portion normally disposed in back of the wearer's head and a body portion normally positioned in front of the wearor, a plurality of symmetrically arranged longitudinally disposed air compartments extending continuously from both sides-of the body portion substantially into the head portion, said compartments being symmetrically arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of said preserver,

so as toprovide a buoyant supporting medium. for the head and body of the wearer, the center of buoyancy of which is above the center of buoyancy of the wearer's body, said head portion being actuated upwardly insupporting position 5 by inflating said compartments and means for inflating said compartments each of said compartments being isolated from communication with the others and being symmetrically arranged with respect to the wearer's body in a 10 manner such that when inflated will independently render the wearer substantially stable in the horizontal floating position. l

2. In an inflatable life preserver formed of two layers of flexible material in superposed relation and having a body portion and a head portion with a suitable opening enclosed by said portions to receive the head of the wearer, a pmrality of isolated compartments of substantially U-shape, each U having the bight thereof disposed one within another and symmetric with respect to the longitudinal axis of the head and body portions and means for inflating said compartments.

3. In combination with an inflatable device 25 having a plurality of isolated gas compartments of a manifold having a casing provided with a plurality of outlets corresponding in number to said compartments, a valve disposed within each outlet, said valve having a plunger extending 30 into said casing, and means disposed within said casing and adapted to cooperate with the plunger for opening said valves and thereby emit gas from said compartments.

4. In combination with an-inflatable device having a plurality of isolated gas compartments of a manifold having a casing provided with a plurality of outlets corresponding in number to said compartments, a valve disposed within each outlet, said valve having a plunger extending into said casing, and a gas container disposed within said casing and adapted to actuatesaid plunger when being removed from the casing for opening said valves and thereby emit gas from said compartments.

5. An inflatable device for use as a support for a person, comprising an inflatable body the center of buoyancy of which is above the center of buoyancy of the person, and formed from at least two layers of material superposed one above 5 the other and secured together to produce a 

